February 22, 2015

Beauty and the Book

We have found The Bridge to be the perfect spot for small get-togethers with a purpose.

On Valentines Day, the teen girls of the Sweet Tea mentoring group gathered again to finish our study on Redefining Beauty according to God's standard. These precious gals listened, took notes, asked questions, and went home with some print-outs to hang near their mirrors. They even graciously sat through all my mistakes in Spanish. Throughout the days that followed, I enjoyed the conversations that opened up as a result of what we all learned.

One week later, we held our first book club, all in English! A dozen or so of us spent the past week reading The Giver, highlighting passages that stood out to us and even creating art inspired by what we'd read. Then we met on Saturday to dig a bit deeper, with fun activities, lively discussions, and thought-provoking discussion questions. We were inspired by the main character, who, once he understood the difference between life and abundant life, wasn't content to settle for less and wanted others to share in what he'd discovered. I think we lit a flame under this group, which will continue to meet every other week. We decided to watch it with those who had come trickling into The Bridge as we were wrapping up our discussion.

Some of the things we're trying out now are a little out of our comfort zones, new things that come to us as vague ideas and get fleshed out through a lot of prayer and study and advice from the been-there-done-that crowd. We're so thankful to finally have the facility where we can host these events, building relationship with these young people and helping them on their journey.